Rockets blast off, hold off Warriors' rally

MERCERSBURG, Pa. - Boonsboro finally has enough wrestlers this season to be taken seriously in a dual meet, but so far not enough to win one.

James Buchanan beat Boonsboro 39-33 on Monday night for its first dual-meet victory in seven tries this season, while the Warriors fell to 0-4.

"Boonsboro's gotten 100 percent better," JB coach Bill Mitchell said. "They're a program rebuilding, like us. Right now, we just have a little more experience."

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Monday night, the Rockets were able to fill just one more weight class.

Each team had four pins and one decision as they split the 10 contested weights, but JB took two of the three forfeited bouts. Neither team had a wrestler at 119 pounds.

"By all means, this is the best team I've had," Boonsboro fifth-year coach Brian Smoot said. "First year or two, I only had five or six kids. If you can put 10 kids in a lineup, you're there. You just need to get the matchups and not give up pins."

A close decision in the fifth bout of the night was the difference Monday. JB's Aaron Lynch overcame an 8-6 deficit against Jon Wood at 145 with a reversal-nearfall, five-point flurry in the final 10 seconds to win 11-8 and give his team a 15-12 lead.

"That was the match right there," Smoot said. "If Wood wins, you take away three points from them and give three points to us. That makes it 36-36. We would have won six of the 10 matches, and that would have won it for me."

Smoot's only victory while coaching Boonsboro came last season against Bowling Brook in the Rebel Duals at South Hagerstown.

"Technically, that doesn't really count for anything because it was at a tournament," Smoot said, "so I'm still 0-for-whatever."

Boonsboro did all it could against JB to change the front end of that stat, not allowing the Rockets to gain any momentum from Lynch's victory. Richard Riggs immediately followed with a pin at 152 to give the Warriors their first lead of the night at 18-15.

After Derek Straley answered for JB with a pin at 160, Chris Riggs put Boonsboro back in front with a pin at 171, making it a 24-21 match.

That was the Warriors' final lead. Dustin Pine (189) and Gavin Armstrong (215) each won by forfeit for the Rockets, who clinched the match at 275. Josh Kyler, who was tied 5-5 with Boonsboro's Ryan Shrewsbury midway through the second period at 275, won by fall in 3:44 to give JB an insurmountable 39-24 lead with only two bouts left - both of which were won by Boonsboro.

The pressure was on Kyler, even though Mitchell didn't tell him it was.

"I think he knew he had to win," Mitchell said. "But you tell him that and then he gets a little nervous. He's a first-year varsity wrestler."

The Rockets also got pins from Cody Barrick (125) and Warren Keener (135).

Nathanael Miller (130) and Bret Nalley (140) each had a pin, Dustin Williams (103) won by forfeit and Brandon Jovel (112) won by decision for Boonsboro.